The finger

From Free net encyclopedia

This article is about the gesture. For the mammalian prehensile digits, see finger.

Image:Middle finger.JPG The finger, as in giving someone the finger, known variously as the one-finger salute, the highway salute, flicking (someone) off, flipping (someone) off, flipping the bird, showing someone the middle finger, digital signalling, Thumbs up plus 2,or the Trudeau/Salmon Arm salute (in Canada) is a hand gesture made by extending the middle finger of the hand while bending the other fingers at the second knuckle. The Finger is a silent way of saying "fuck you", using the finger as a phallic symbol. The reference to coitus may be strengthened by first wetting the finger or by sucking on it.

1 Origin
2 Bowfinger
3 Interpretation
4 Famous examples
5 See also
6 External links

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Origin

The origins of this gesture are highly speculative, but is quite possibly up to 2500 years old. It is identified as the digitus impudicus ('impudent finger') in Ancient Roman writings and reference is made to using the finger in the Ancient Greek comedy The Clouds by Aristophanes. It was defined there as a gesture intended to insult another. It has been noted that the gesture resembles an erect penis.

Ancient Romans also considered an image of an erect phallus as a talisman against evil spells. As a consequence, displaying this gesture to another may not have been a pseudo-sexual insult but rather an insulting statement along the lines of—"I'm going to protect myself against your witchcraft, before you even start" but an even earlier reference is made to ancient farmers using this finger to test hens for coming eggs.

A story that refers to the gestures of longbowmen fighting in the English army at the Battle of Agincourt in particular is often mentioned. The French cut off fingers from captured archers (usually the index and middle finger of the right hand). The English longbowmen who retained their index and middle fingers held them up in a V gesture (V Sign) to show they could still operate their weapons, and this gesture is still offensive in Britain today. Whether this has more to do with the middle finger salute than similarity of common meaning and intent is unknown.

Jean Froissart (circa 1337-circa 1404) was a historian as the author of the Chronicle, a document that is essential to an understanding of Europe in the fourteenth century and to the twists and turns taken by the Hundred Years' War. The Chronicle is a primary source of information. The story of the English waving their fingers at the French is told in the first person account by Jean Froissart. However, the description is not of an incident at the Battle of Agincourt, but rather at the siege of a castle nearby in the Hundred Years War. Adding to the evidence is that by all accounts Jean Froissart died before the battle actually took place; it was therefore rather difficult for him to have written about it.

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Bowfinger

In the United Kingdom and parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, a two-fingered hand gesture, made with the palm inward (a V sign) while flicking the hand up, is considered to be highly insulting and similar in severity to the "one-fingered salute."

On a recording of a concert in the Isle of Wight, Jimi Hendrix can be heard saying "That does mean peace, not this." It takes little imagination to guess which gestures he made there.

Bowfinger is also the title of a Steve Martin comedy film that stars himself and Eddie Murphy. The film lampoons the people and institutions of the film industry. In this context, the title is generally interpreted as a friendly "screw you" to Hollywood and the movie industry.

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Interpretation

Image:Middle finger.jpg

In the United States the gesture, which is often accompanied by a verbal insult ("fuck you" or "up yours" being quite common) is generally considered very offensive - perhaps twice as offensive when the gesture is made using both hands, or when accompanied by a vigorous upward motion of the hand and forearm. In Arabic countries, a similar gesture with fingers pointing downwards is just as insulting because it is an implication of impotence.

Canada and most of Europe have a more liberal stance, and modest to heavy use of the gesture is tolerated. In Asia, notably in Hong Kong or Singapore whose cultures are westernised, the gesture is also a taboo. In Germany, showing it to an individual can be considered as an insult and theoretically is punishable with a fine of up to a month's income. However, enforcement is nearly unknown.

In Portugal this sign is made holding the big finger straight between the other bending fingers. The two bended fingers closest to the big one stand for the testicles.

In China, contrary to the offensive nature of the gesture in other cultures, Chinese Sign Language used by the deaf of China employ this handshape to represent the first born male or number one son, a position of status in traditional Chinese culture.

In some Mediterranean countries, and much of Asia, it is permissible to use the middle finger to point to something (on a written page for example) and some Western cultures often tolerate the use of the middle finger to point to things. However, in North America it is considered more polite to use the forefinger to point to something. (Even so, in the U.S. and Commonwealth pointing at a person with any finger is considered rude, but using the entire hand to point at a person is acceptable.)

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Famous examples

In 1968, captured crewmembers of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) used a discreet version of the finger as a covert signal of "obscene derisiveness and contempt" (quoted from a newspaper caption) in propaganda photos taken by their North Korean captors. [1] The gesture was explained to the North Koreans as 'the Hawaiian Good Luck sign'.

In Canada, showing the middle finger is sometimes called the Trudeau salute after Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau because of a famous photo of him giving the finger to protesters in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. He had also used the gesture in the Canadian House of Commons. Prior to becoming Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein was caught on camera giving the finger to an environmentalist protestor (although the protestor had made the gesture first).

In some subcultures in the United States, it is known as the 'one fingered victory salute' which gained popularity after this video appeared on the Internet in October 2004, showing George W. Bush, at the time of the film the Governor of Texas, using the gesture while goofing off before beginning filming of a public address. This was adapted by UL Vikings Head Coach, Gavin Grace, for use as an inspirational gesture in a pre-game speech prior to an historic victory against the Belfast Bulls on March 12, 2006.

The highest elected U.S. official caught flipping the bird while in office was Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller. At a campaign stop for Senator Bob Dole in 1976, Nelson Rockefeller was heckled by protesters telling him what they thought of his Vietnam war policy with their fingers. Never one to back down, (and believed by some to be starting to be going senile) Rockefeller [2] flipped it right back.

The United States FCC has banned display of this gesture on broadcast television as an obscenity. As a result the gesture is often censored, and airbrushed out or replaced with large-pixel blocks. This gesture occurs frequently on television shows like The Jerry Springer Show or on music videos shown on MTV or VH1. A popular MTV show, Pimp My Ride featured rapper Xzibit taking a car with a pair of Mickey Mouse gloves with four fingers including the thumb. As Xzibit drives the car, he wears the gloves and flips off the camera. Despite the technicality, it is still censored. Wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin frequently gave the finger to opponents and into the camera lens on WWE television, sometimes uncensored. A Limp Bizkit video shows Fred Durst in a nightmare sequence as an animated alien version of himself, he flips off the other creatures which is censored. The irony is that the video censors the finger even though the animated Durst has only 3 fingers and a thumb (the irony is also included on Pimp My Ride). Canadian rock band, Gob is one of the first bands to feature the finger uncensored.

Greg Chappell, the Australian cricketer, and the coach of the Indian cricket team, was caught in a controversy when he allegedly showed the middle finger from the window of the team-bus towards the fans of the Indian team in the city of Kolkata, India. ([3], Google video of the incident)

In a number of the Marx Brothers Paramount Pictures films, Chico Marx repeatedly makes the gesture quickly while waving his hands about, which was probably not noticed by censors before the films were released.

A Saturday Night Live sketch parodying The Weakest Link featured Rachel Dratch (as Anne Robinson) giving the finger. Dratch held her middle finger downwards (this was uncensored), asking one of the contestants, "Can you hear this?" The contestant replied, "No," and Dratch said, "Then let me turn it up for you." When her finger was about horizontal, censoring appeared.

A 1994 episode "The Pledge Drive" of Seinfeld featured a plotline where George believes people are giving him the finger. The finger was actually shown on camera, but never explicitly, such as a waitress scratching her face with her middle finger, and a guy with a broken hand with the splint leaving the middle finger straight, a joke frequently used in films.

Rowan Atkinson in Mr. Bean the movie, while living temporarily on the west coast of the United States discovers the expression without understanding its meaning, and a section of the movie shows the Mr. Bean character sitting in a car and giving everyone in sight the finger. The same gag was used in the movie version of The Beverly Hillbillies

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